Movies: District 9, Ponyo Bring Welcome Dose of Sci-Fi, Anime

The dog days of summer typically serve as a dumping ground for mediocre movies. But this weekend, two genre-stretching films promise respite from the August doldrums.

District 9, directed by Peter Jackson protégé Neill Blomkamp, takes a faux-documentary approach to its apartheid-themed story about aliens (pictured above) forced to live in segregated quarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Equally captivating is Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki‘s Ponyo, which retools a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale in high anime style. Disney’s English-language version features voice work by Matt Damon and Tina Fey.

Picks of the week: Backed by an unusually clever viral ad campaign, District 9 transforms the familiar aliens-attack premise into artfully shot sci-fi with a message. Ponyo offers painterly, hand-drawn animation from the man who made the acclaimed Spirited Away. Look for full reviews of these films on Wired.com soon.

Read more about this week’s theatrical offerings, watch trailers and vote for your favorite new movies below.

District 9Synopsis: Aliens who landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, 20 years ago have been rounded up by residents as underclass “prawns” and forced to live in the District 9 shantytown. When multinational employee Wikus van der Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) contracts a mysterious virus that alters his DNA, he’s forced to take refuge in the camp. Neill Blomkamp directs.Rated: R

PonyoSynopsis: Anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki tells the tale of a goldfish princess who longs to become human. Complications ensue when a 5-year-old boy falls in love with her. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and released in Japan as Gake no ue no Ponyo, the animated film, produced by Pixar mogul John Lasseter, includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey and Liam Neeson in the voice cast.Rated: G

The Time Traveler’s WifeSynopsis: Eric Bana plays a man embedded with DNA that causes him to skip back and forth through time without warning. Rachel McAdams plays the thankless title role. Oscar winner Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) adapted the screenplay from Audrey Niffenegger’s best-selling novel.Rated: PG-13

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell HardSynopsis: Jeremy Piven (TV’s Entourage) stars as a hard-driven car salesman who does whatever it takes to save a dealership from bankruptcy during the Fourth of July weekend. Ving Rhames, James Brolin and Ed Helms co-star in the Will Ferrell-produced comedy.Rated: R

A Perfect GetawaySynopsis: Honeymooners backpacking on a remote Hawaiian island encounter terror in paradise when they learn another couple has been murdered. David Twohy (The Chronicles of Riddick) directs Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) and Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood.Rated: R

Thirst (limited) Synopsis: South Korean new-wave director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) puts a weirdo spin on vampires, exploring the hideous aftermath of a failed medical experiment when an infected priest turns into a bloodsucker with good intentions.Rated: R

Mini-review: With its oddball story about an altruistic priest’s descent into bloodsucking hell, Thirst uncorks an uneven mixture of sex, blood and moral quandaries. The subtitled movie careens crazily as its protagonist transforms from saintly man to virtuous vampire to something worse. But South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s undeniably creative film, with its funny bits and flashes of brilliance, comes in long at just over two hours and never seems to settle into a groove. — Lewis WallaceRating:

Funny PeopleSynopsis: Short on friends and newly diagnosed with a terminal disorder, movie star/standup comic George Simmons (played by Adam Sandler) hires a wannabe comedian (Seth Rogen) as his assistant. Complications ensue when Simmons tries to reunite with his ex-girlfriend (Leslie Mann), now married to a witless Australian (Eric Bana) and raising two girls in Northern California. Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman co-star for writer-director Judd Apatow.Rated: R

Mini-review: Sandler does a pretty good job of making us sympathize with the “plight” of a selfish millionaire movie star seemingly imprisoned in a gorgeous oceanfront estate and hounded by beautiful groupies. Crammed with pop culture references and celebrity cameos (including balladeer James Taylor snarling “Fuck Facebook” at the end of his MySpace corporate gig), Funny People comes across as a love letter to the snarky craft of making strangers laugh disguised as a romantic comedy. Clocking in at two hours and 20 minutes, Funny People‘s shock shtick wears thin at times; though it’s not as funny as The 40 year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Apatow and his quip-happy cast deserve credit for trying to work some deep thinking into the cavalcade of dirty jokes. — Hugh HartRating:

Aliens in the AtticSynopsis: When kids on vacation in Maine discover that glowing pods from a meteor shower have turned up upstairs, they disarm the creatures with high-tech inventiveness. The live-action/animation hybrid from Madagascar co-writer Mark Burton features the voices of Carter Jenkins, Ashley Tisdale, Austin Butler, Kevin Nealon and Doris Roberts.Rated: PG

OrphanSynopsis: When their unborn child dies, devastated parents decides to adopt. Drawn to a girl at a nearby orphanage, they take the sweet 9-year-old home and soon learn that the child is not what she appears to be. Vera Farmiga and Peter Saarsgard star as the parents with Isabella Fuhrman as the youngster. Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax) directs.Rated: R

(500) Days of SummerSynopsis: When a greeting-card-writer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls for a cute Michigan girl (Zooey Deschanel), they embark on a 500-day journey of attraction, rejection, sex and confusion in the directorial debut of Marc Webb.Rated: PG-13